Vehicle window regulator



Feb. 15, 1955 Filed June 18, 1949 A. MACKMANN 2,701,973

VEHICLE wmnow REGULATOR 2 Sheets-Sheet l' INVENTOR. 1711 14)? Mel/gran.

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Feb. 15, 1955 A. MACKMANN 2,101,973

vmcus unnow nscuuwon Filed June 18, 1949 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 i INVENTOR.

12 flrz'l'arr 272410 4402 I can be secured in an apparatus which comprises, in a ing means adapted to fix said hand actuated shaft against cylindrical portion, wherein a wall of said cylindrical por- 2,701,973 Patented Feb. is, 1955 Unit (1 St 1: s Pat nt Ofli Other objects and features of novelty of the invention will be c fically pointed. out or will become apparent 2,701,973 tvi hentre :hrnnfghfona batter understanding of the invenion e o owing escri tion en in con'unction VEHICLE WIN REGULATOR I. witlht the accompan inlg drawi ngfs, wheaein: I v at Ma m m, by rg.-; rsa view 0 e ements o a win ow regu ating ap- W cm 1 3 paratus embodying features of the present invention.

m an gf rgi nl g ygw p Fig. 2 isasectional view of the gear package taken alongtheline of Fig.1. Appuuuon June Fig. 3 is a "sectional view of the gearpackage taken alongtheline M of Fig.2. 2 Claims. (Cl. 74-626) j Fig. 4 is a planvi'ew of the housing of the gear package. flg g. 54 is a view of the housing taken along the line 5-5 0 lg. j- 1 Fig. 6 is a plan view of the cover for the gear package. -fll i g. g is a view of the cover taken along the line 77 0 lg.

This invention concerns an apparatus for use in conned, tion with regulation of vehicle windows and in particular relates to a compact unit package adapted to enclose the gear elements necessary for window operation by either Referring more particularly to the drawings, manual means P means- Figure 1 illustrates an embodiment of the invention and There is known to the art vehicle window regulators includes generally a motor 10, a flexible shaft 11 and a unit which operate from both a motor driven mechanism and 1 'gear package 12. The motor 10 is positioned i a d a hand operated mechanism. S nrularly; there have been frame 13 and is coupled to the flexible shaft by a suitable described declutching means which disengage the manualcoupling 14. The shaft 11 may be provid d i h a fle ibl ly operated mechanism at the time the motor is operating. covering 15 which is attached to the door frame by a An example of such a gear system and declutching clamp 16. The use of the covering 15 is normally not mechanism is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in necessary but may be used in some cases with advantage. Order to Show more clearly the yp 9 fl ystem and The gear package 12 is a housing comprising a cylindrical declutching mechanism with which this invention is conportion 17 and anoblong portion 18, the latter positioned L substantially tangentially to the cylindrical portion. The

One of the major problems encountered in the instalcylindrical portion of the package is adapted to enclose a lation of window regulating equipment 15 that of space.

planetary gear system and the oblong portion is adapted to enclose a worm gear 19 to cooperate with the planetary This is particularly true in older cars which were designed gears and with the flexible shaft. Cooperation between in a manner to provide for the installation of hand operated window regulator equipment but were not designed with motor driven equipment in mind. Where it is de-. by the shaft 20 and the coupling 21. A gear segment sired to install such a power mechanism in a door frame 22, responsive to movement of the planetary gear system, it is necessary, for the devices known, to provide a space is attached to the car window (not shown) for the raising for the gear system, a space for the motor, and, further, and lowering of thew indow. Where the gear package of to have the spaces in proper alignment to drivethe gear the invention is installed in vehicles already provided with system by the motor and connecting shaft. However, a manually operated window adjusting apparatus the gear where cars are not designed for such mechanisms, they segment 22 may represent the particular means already cannot, as a'rule be provided with the known devices. present for transmitting the' movement of the crank to the Frequently there is space in a door; for example, near the window and may also represent the common element" bottom hinge, which is ample for a motor but such space of the window regulating apparatus to which movement is normally not in alignment with the usual manually 0pis transmitted by either hand operation or motor operaerated device for a direct connection. tion.

It is an object of the invention to provide in a vehicle Figure 2 and Figure 3 show in more detail a system of window regulating apparatus a unit gear package adapted gears adapted to be used in connection with the present to include gear elements responsive to both manual opinvention and illustrates the gear system as enclosed in eration and motor operation. a compact unit package in accordance with the principles It is an object to provide means for actuating a window of the invention. regulating gear system with a motor which is not in align- In the figures a manually operated crank 23 and crank ment with said system. shaft 41 are attached to a pilot shaft 24 through a de- It is a further object to provide a gear package for use clutching mechanism 25. Such declutching mechanisms in a Vehicle Window regulating pp which is adapted are well known to the art and need not be detailed in this for ready insertion in a door frame and adapted to engage specification. A pinion gear 26 is mounted on the pilot a m tor actuated shaft, to engage a h p r ank shaft 24 and three traveler gears 27 are mounted for shaft and to engage an element engaged withthe window rotation on the periphery of the pinion gear. The planefor movement therewith. tary gear system is completed by the spur gear 28 which I ha n found that the forcfloifll and "lined l c has teeth on both the internal and external surfaces. The internal teeth are adapted to engage the traveler gears preferred embodiment, the combination of a motor actuand the xtern l t th are d d topengage h worm ated flexible shaft and a gear package for use as an intergear 19 positioned in the oblong portion of the package mediate means in the transmission of mo ement fro and attached to the flexible shaft 11 via the shaft 20. Each both the flexible shaft and a hap ctu shaft t0 8 'of the traveler gears may be fixed by a stub shaft 29 or common eleme t in a vchlcle WmdQW 8 8 PP other suitable fastening means to a spider member 30 rams. h r sai p g comprises a s sy which is mounted concentric to the pilot shaft. adapted to engage said shafts and said element, a declutch- Thus, a turning of 3 crank h ft will cause a move. ment of the traveler gears in a planetary motion about movement Wharf Sald m actuate? Shaf} motlonv the pinion gear and consequently a rotation of the spider and a umtlwusmg compactly enclosmg l B 8 '9" member. A sector gear 22 or other element of the regu- Wh 881d 9 8 P a substamlally cyllndflcal lating mechanism of a vehicle window suitable for acting Portion encloslng 5314 S W and a sPbsmmlally in common for the transmission of movement from both oblong portion mounted substantially tangentially to said h motor d th h d crank can b engaged ith th spider member. Such a movement of the traveler gears tion is provided with an opening adapted to receive the will not induce a motion of the spur gear because of the hand actuated shaft for engagement with said gears, and fact that the former are free to move while the latter is wherein said oblong portion is provided with an opening fixed through the relatively high resistance to movement adapted to receive said flexible shaftfor engagement with so of the worm gear 19. 7 Conversely if the motor is used said gear system. to adjust the car window a movement of the shaft 11 turns the worm gear 19 and the flexible shaft 11 isprovided the worm gear which induces a motion in the spur gear and consequently in the traveler gears, the spider member, and the common element such as-the sector gear. In this case the freedom of movement of the traveler gears is such that there is no movement in the pinion gear because of the relatively high resistance of the declutching mechanism. Thus, the car window may be raised or lowered by the hand crank without any movement of the flexible shaft to the motor and conversely the window may be raised or lowered by the motor without any movement of the hand crank. Similarly, the window cannot be moved, and in particular cannot be opened by the application of a direct force on the window itself,

Such a force would be applied against the sector gear or equivalent element of the window regulating apparatus and thus to the spider member and traveler gears. The latter, however, are fixed against such movement by the declutching mechanism and the worm gear as described above.

Figs. 4 and 5 show the housing 12 of the present in.- vention as consisting of a substantially cylindrical portion 17 and a substantially oblong portion 18 positioned tangentially to the cylindrical portion. The cylindrical portion has an opening 31 to receive the spider member and is provided with a number of openings 32 for screws, bolts or other fastening devices. The oblong portion has an opening 33 to receive one end of the shaft and an oppositely disposed opening 34 provided with an adjustable threaded bearing 35. It will be-apparent that the coupling 21 may join the flexible shaft with the shaft 20 either inside or outside the housing and therefore it can be said that the opening 33,.receives the shaft 20 01: equivalently, that the opening 33receives the flexible s a t.

Similarly, it will be apparent that each of the oppositely disposed openings 33 and 34 of the housing may be adapted to receive a, number of types of bearings. For example, the opening 34 may be similar to the opening 33. Similarly the worm gear 19 and the shaft 20 may be fitted into the oblong portion of the housing in a number of ways. For example, the worm portion 19 may be a separate piece from the shaft 20 and may be fixed to the latter by a cross pin. The threaded portion may be of any suitable length and may extend from one opening to the other. Where the threaded portion 19 is made separately from the shaft 20 it is preferred that each end of the threaded portion consist of a small hub which fits into the openings 33 and 34 and acts as a bearing surface. In this latter case the thread of opening 34 may be eliminated.

Figs. 6 and 7 illustrate a plate or cover 36 for the gear package which may be flat or may be in the form illustrated in Fig. 7. The latter form is preferred since it permits the declutching mechanism to be enclosed in the gear package. As illustrated the plate or cover 36 consists of base portions 37 which fit against the base portion of the gear package 12; an elevated cylindrical portion 38 which is provided with an opening 39 to permit the passage of the crank shaft 41 through the gear package; and a number of openings 40 for bolts or other fastening devices.

As indicated above the gear package of the present invention can be installed not only in newly built cars designed to receive it but also in older cars which are provided with only a hand operated regulator. Since these older cars normally do not have sufficient space within the car frame at a point suitable for a direct rigid shaft connection between the motor and. gear package the flexible shaft of the invention can be used with the gear package and the motor can be placed in any position within the door frame where space is adequate.

It is preferred that window regulators be responsive to both automatic and manual operation and that the declutching mechanisms of the art be used to avoid movement of the hand crank when the automatic system l8 in operation. For this reason a preferred embodiment of the present invention includes within the gear package space for such a declutching mechanism.

Although my invention is not concerned with any particular de-clutching mechanism, particularly since such mechanisms are normally present in manually operated window regulators when the apparatus of my invention is installed; the type which is best known and particularly adaptable comprises a spring positioned around and concentric to the hand crank shaft. The wire ends of the spring are bent radially inwardly to engage a portion of the crank shaft in a-manner such that a turning of the hand crank in either direction causes the spring to tighten around the shaft; However, if power is applied to the shaft via the sun pinion of a planetary gear system, the spring provides sufficient frictional drag to cause the traveler gears of the gear system to spin without motion of the sun pinion. This type of declutching mechanism has been used in vehicles practically since the adoption of window regulators. Their purpose when first used was to prevent the vehicle window from being opened from the outside by a downward push on the top of the window.

1. A window regulator of the linkage type comprising a gear adapted to be connected to said-linkage, an electric motor for operating said gear, a handle for operating the gear independently of said motor, a power transmission unit interposed between said gear and the motor and handle, an output pinion in said unit engageable with said gear, a manual input shaft rotatable by said handle, a sun gear in said unit, a de-clutching mechanism interposed between said sun gear and manual input shaft whereby rotary power may be transmitted only from said shaft to the sun gear, a power input shaft in said unit driven by said motor, a worm on said power input shaft, a ring gear having external teeth meshing with said worm, said sun and ring gears being freely rotatable with respect to said output pinion, internal teeth on said ring gear, a planetary gear meshing with said sun gear and said internal teeth, means connecting said planetary gear to said output pinion, a unitary housing for said power transmission unit, said housing comprising a flat circular portion enclosing said ring gear, sun gear, and planetary gear, a bearing on said circular portion for said output pinion, an enclosure on said circular portion for said declutching mechanism, and an oblong housing portion integral with said circular portion and generally tangent thereto,'said oblong portion having bearing supports for said power input shaft.

2. The combination according to claim 1, further provided with a pilot pin held by said output pinion, said plilloft pin supporting said sun gear and said manual input s a t.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,157,307 Henderson Oct. 19, 1915 1,263,125 Sawyer Apr. 6, 1918 1,265,269 Sipp ..-May 7, 1918 1,390,867 Barrett Sept. 13, 1921 1,996,579 Johnstone et al. Apr. 2, 1935 2,001,758 Zwierzina May 21, 1935 2,104,582 Carlson Jan. 4, 1938 2,109,362 Tollison Feb. 22, 1938 2,300,576 Klein Nov. 3, 1942 2,370,976 Lear Mar. 6, 1945 2,420,552 Morrill May 13, 1947 2,437,646 Matulaitis et al. Mar. 9, 1948 2,481,477 Perry Sept. 6, 1949 2,621,541 Rath Dec. 16, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS 360,041 1938 Italy June 10, 

